How long to keep heat lamp?

[blbgp]

My ladies are now 7 and 9 weeks old. They've been living in my coop for a few weeks now but I kept a heat lamp in there as it gets chlly at night. How long should I keep the lamp in with them? Is it safe to stop now?

I am on the coast, and we generally average highs in the high 60's to 70's and lows in the mid-50's.

The RIR's have a lot of their feathers, the ameraucana still has a little ways to go.

 

[ROC4K]

By the BYC math you should have the heat down to 60 now for them with -5 degrees per week. THe less heat the faster the feathers seem to grow. You could put the light on a timer and start it at like 2am to knock off the chill...shut it down around sunrise.

IMO you can shut it off anytime now. Those temps seem pretty safe for your age birds.

 

[blbgp]

I am nervous....light burned out and I didn't replace it. Hope the will be ok tonight!! So, how to calm a nervous (human) mom?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote:
I stop using heat once they are fully feathered and I've never lost one due to cold.
They will be fine!

 

[Little Peeps]

I just put my 8 week old chicks in their coop for the first time, I am also nervous how they will do with light/heat. I am in the 40's at night and the 50/60's during the day. I guess us nervous mom's will have to pray for each other

 

[SarahFair]

My chicks are 5 weeks and I put them in the coop a good 1.5 to 2 weeks ago. It is hot here in Ga though..
I had them in the garage and I noticed none of them stayed around the heat lamp anyways.
Havent lost one due to the cold. At night they all just bundle in a corner.

 

[WalkingWolf]

The one thing I noticed about a broody mother hen is that while she roams and scuttles about the chicks follow her but they don't stay under her. And this was during cold weather in the 40s and 50s. She would stop every so often and let them slide under her to get warm. And all this while they were only a week old. I have my two week chicks outside in a pen, with a bucket with a hole and wood chips for a nest. They go inside of a night and cuddle the rest of the time they are playing and eating.

Provide your chicks with a box for the night, and turn off the light. You may have to teach them to go in the box. Simply when they huddle at dusk, pick them up and put them in the box, they will stay. After a night or two they will go in on their own.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

I have 5 and 8 week old chicks that don't bother with the heat lamp anymore. It's in there for the week old ones and the others don't seem to care so, at 7 & 9 weeks you should be fine.

 

[ibpboo]

My chickies that hatched May 14 are already living outside with the big girls, and have been since they were about a month old. No heat lamp. My chickies that hatched June 17, so they are about 2 weeks old, stay outside during the day now, I've still been bringing them in at night though. My temps are about the same as yours, blbgp, with a lot of fog too.

How did your chicks do, blbgp and Little Peeps?

 

[ROC4K]

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